Chapter 466: Early Warning

In the darkness, Duan Rong slipped out of Zhao Yi's room.

Standing in the dark and quiet Corridor, he could hear faint snoring coming from various places.

There were still quite a few people living in the various rooms on the first floor; these people were all employees of Taihe Tower.

Duan Rong swept his Divine Sense over them, checking their dantian one by one; among these people, there were no Martial Artists.

Duan Rong ignored these people entirely and walked toward a hidden corner on the first floor.

There, on the wall beside a cabinet, was a small door; unless one walked right up to the cabinet, one could not see that door, otherwise, the door remained hidden in the shadow of the cabinet, and from other angles, it was very difficult to discover the existence of that door.

This morning, while sitting upstairs drinking tea, Duan Rong had already discovered this door.

During the morning, he was different from before at Taihe Tower; previously, his Divine Sense probing was mainly concentrated on the tea guests in the building.

This time, he directly placed the focus of his Divine Sense probing on the structure of Taihe Tower itself.

Because, since Taihe Tower was the spy network stronghold operated by Ge Rusong in Shenyun Prefecture, there must be something fishy inside this building.

Sure enough, when Duan Rong pushed his Divine Sense beneath the first floor of Taihe Tower and continued to probe deeper, he discovered that there was actually an underground space beneath this Taihe Tower.

Moreover, it was filled with traps.

For example, this inconspicuous small door in front of him was painted with wood-colored lacquer on the surface, but it was cast from pure iron and was very heavy.

More importantly, there were multiple traps on this door connected to bells; once forced open, it would immediately trigger an alarm.

Furthermore, as Duan Rong's Divine Sense penetrated through at this moment, he discovered that there was still one person guarding inside the door.

Duan Rong's Divine Sense penetrated this person's dantian; the cultivation realm was not high, merely the Inner Breath Realm Fourth Layer.

A Martial Artist of the Inner Breath Realm was, of course, very easy for the current Duan Rong to knock down, but the key was this door in front of him; once forced open, it would immediately trigger an alarm.

In the darkness, Duan Rong stood before that pure iron-cast door, his eyes flickering; under his Divine Sense probing, he had already seen the several spring mechanisms that triggered the alarm clearly.

Duan Rong suddenly took a diagonal step, lowered his body, and crouched in a corner of the small door; in the darkness, he raised a finger, and at the tip of his finger, Qi flickered.

With his brows tightly locked, he pointed his finger at a corner of the small door; delicate Qi surged, instantly creating a small hole in the pure iron-cast small door.

A small pile of fine iron filings fell to the ground from the corner; the light inside the door was dim, and the person guarding the entrance did not notice this detail.

Duan Rong then flipped his hand, pinched a brown Porcelain Bottle in his hand, and then carefully, bit by bit, stuffed some Medicine Powder into the small hole in the corner of the small door.

After stuffing for a while, estimating that the amount of medicine was sufficient, Duan Rong raised his finger again, Qi surged at the fingertip, and he pointed it at the small hole.

Following the surge of Qi, the Medicine Powder stuffed into the small hole was sprayed into the room; after only a few breaths, the person guarding at the entrance collapsed to the ground and passed out.

With his Divine Sense penetrating through, Duan Rong saw the situation inside the door as if he were there.

The moment the guard collapsed in a faint, Duan Rong formed his hand into a blade; his fingertips were all flickering with Qi, like an extremely sharp blade, and he cut toward a certain corner of the pure iron-cast door.

Through careful probing with his Divine Sense, Duan Rong discovered that only the space in this corner had no traps.

The path of Duan Rong's hand-blade cut was roughly oval, but there were many places with somewhat irregular streamlines; this was him avoiding the places that would trigger the traps.

The moment the cut marks met, Duan Rong suddenly poked with a single finger, and his finger pierced into the iron block that had been cut out as if it were inserting into tofu; then, Duan Rong formed his five fingers into a claw and directly grabbed the iron block with its smooth, twisted edges out...

At this moment, an irregular small hole, smaller than a dog hole, appeared in the corner of the small door in front of him.

In the darkness, Duan Rong's eyes were as bright as stars; he stood up, and suddenly the bones all over his body cracked and popped; at the same time, his sturdy body began to shrink circle by circle.

Very quickly, his entire person actually became like a thin, small dwarf; he first extended his two legs into the small hole on the door, and only after barely squeezing his legs in did he twist his waist in as well; finally, he ground his upper body, head, and hands in bit by bit.

On the wall inside the door, a candle was lit; under the dim yellow light, one could see a small dwarf, amidst a series of cracking bone sounds, eerily growing larger circle by circle.

Duan Rong stood there, let out a breath of turbid air, glanced at the small hole he had squeezed through, and then took a look at the guard who had fainted at his feet, before fixing his gaze on the stairs in front of him.

These stairs led downward; the cramped stairs were very dim, but not far down was a corner, and at that corner, there was clearly a patch of light shining obliquely over.

Duan Rong knew that after turning that corner and going down another section of stairs, he would reach the underground space of Taihe Tower.

Moreover, Duan Rong could hear various rustling sounds and mixed, faint footsteps coming from where he stood... clearly, there were many people busy in that underground space.

Yet, when he probed during the day, this place had been pitch black.

It seems the people inside here, like rats, also lived with their days and nights reversed.

Duan Rong stood there, his eyes flickering; with a round of probing using his Divine Sense, he suddenly understood what the people inside were busy with.

It turned out they were organizing and summarizing the various information overheard during the day.

Duan Rong roughly counted; there were nearly a dozen figures busy in front of many wooden shelves and desks.

And there was one person inside sitting on a grand armchair; his square face was full of fatigue, and his eye sockets had even darker circles; information that had been summarized and organized was constantly being placed in front of his desk.

At this moment, the desk in front of him was already piled high with white paper filled with tiny, fly-head-sized regular script, like snowflakes.

This person was actually the Owner of Taihe Tower, the leader of this stronghold, named Qin Ya.

Qin Ya was born with a superior memory and the ability to never forget what he had seen; don't look at the papers in front of him as being as chaotic as hemp, he knew what was written on each one like the back of his hand.

He looked at the piece of paper in front of him, suddenly frowned as if he had remembered something, swept his eyes, and grabbed one from the pile of chaotic papers, looking at the two in comparison.

In the dim light, Duan Rong had already walked slowly down the steps; his footsteps were very light, almost silent, and he walked into the patch of light at the corner of the stairs; he actually turned directly around it.

Once he turned the corner, the chaotic footsteps and the rustling of paper suddenly became clear.

But no one saw Duan Rong.

Because Duan Rong had already probed carefully; only after he walked down five more steps from this point could someone see his feet from a certain angle.

Duan Rong walked down slowly and stopped when he reached the fourth step.

At this moment, the light was clearly more intense; he could even see the shadows of people flickering under the candlelight at the end of the stairs.

Duan Rong stood there, suddenly flipped his hand, and a brown Porcelain Bottle was held in his hand.

He opened the Porcelain Bottle, poured some Medicine Powder into the palm of his right hand, and then, with surging Qi in his palm, he slapped a mass of Medicine Powder out...

Following the surging Qi, that Medicine Powder was slapped toward the stair entrance below and scattered into the air...

Duan Rong followed the same method, struck another palm, then a third palm, a fourth palm...

This underground space was a closed space, and very quickly it was permeated with Medicine Powder...

Qin Ya put down the two sheets of paper in his hand and frowned tightly; these two sheets of paper were from people in two different private rooms, but they were discussing the same matter, only they differed in three details...

Qin Ya was deep in thought when suddenly his nostrils twitched; instantly, a sharp light burst from his eyes, and his entire person became highly vigilant.

Almost simultaneously, the figures in the room, as if locked in soul by a ghost, collapsed one by one without warning...

And a black shadow darted over from the staircase, as fast as a thunderbolt or lightning.

The moment Qin Ya grew vigilant, Duan Rong was already standing before him.

This underground space was well-concealed; Duan Rong was not at all afraid of Qin Ya making a sound, and upon striking, he went straight for his dantian.

Duan Rong had already used his Divine Sense to scout the staircase; inside here, apart from the person before him who was at the True Qi Realm Fourth Layer, the others were basically only at the Inner Breath Realm.

His Medicine Powder that caused unconsciousness could not penetrate thick True Qi.

Duan Rong's figure was like a thunderbolt, arriving in an instant, and his strikes were even more like a ghost—erratic and swift—leaving Qin Ya unable to react at all.

Duan Rong struck with a palm; seeing that there was no way to avoid it, in a moment of distraction, Qin Ya's dantian was already destroyed by Duan Rong.

With Qin Ya's dantian destroyed and under the pressure of Essence Pressure, his True Qi instantly dissipated completely; that Medicine Powder that caused unconsciousness had originally already entered his nasal cavity and lungs. The moment his dantian was destroyed, his vision went black, and he was about to pass out.

But in the instant before passing out, Qin Ya suddenly lifted a leg and used his knee to strike a certain spot on the side of the side table.

This tiny movement was naturally captured by Duan Rong's Divine Sense.

Duan Rong's heart skipped a beat; it was clear that before passing out, Qin Ya had triggered some kind of mechanism.

That mechanism was on the side of the bottom of the side table; when Duan Rong had scouted earlier, he had not noticed such a hidden detail.

The moment that mechanism was triggered, Duan Rong's Divine Sense suddenly expanded, shrouding the inside and outside of Taihe Tower completely.

Because, under the probing of his Divine Sense, Duan Rong had already discovered that the spring inside the mechanism was connected to a wire, and that wire was connected to a Wheel deep inside the floor, which then connected to another Wheel at the corner of the wall, following the wall upward...

The mechanism did not seem to be triggering something in this underground space, but rather somewhere in the three floors above Taihe Tower.

The moment Duan Rong's Divine Sense probe shrouded the inside and outside of Taihe Tower, he saw that under a certain eave on the roof of Taihe Tower, hidden beneath the eaves and inside a secret beam tenon, a cage was actually hanging; a carrier pigeon was locked inside that cage, and at this moment, the bottom of the cage suddenly fell off...

In the night, a piece of wood clattered as it struck the flying eave below.

And that carrier pigeon, which had already been asleep, was instantly thrown into the night wind; the carrier pigeon lost its balance, suddenly woke up, and flapped its wings, preparing to fly out.

In the underground space, Duan Rong "saw" all of this clearly; he suddenly drew his Frost Pattern Phosphorus Crystal Blade, and under the bright red candles, the blade flickered with an eerie white light.

Duan Rong infused a thread of Essence into the blade body, and then threw the blade in his hand.

Under the probe of his Divine Sense, the entire staircase was like nothingness; that Frost Pattern Phosphorus Crystal Blade pierced through several floors in succession, and the moment that carrier pigeon flapped its wings, it was run through by the blade tip and nailed to the wooden beam tenon under the eave.

Duan Rong's gaze swept over, confirming that everyone in this underground space had already fallen unconscious, and only then did he move his body and dart back into the staircase.

His figure flickered, and he had already arrived before the iron door that had been pierced through; he fished the key out from the guard, and opened the iron door from the inside. Because it was opened with a key, the large cluster of bells above his head did not ring even once.

Duan Rong's figure was like a ghost, shuttling through the various rooms on the first floor; his sleeves flickered, and Medicine Powder was scattered accordingly. In the various rooms on the first floor, those clerks were drugged unconscious by him while in their sleep.

Only then did Duan Rong dart out from a certain window; like a flying bird, he stepped on the flying eaves and brackets in the night, and very quickly arrived under the flying eaves on the roof.

Duan Rong pulled down that Frost Pattern Phosphorus Crystal Blade that was stuck in a certain beam tenon, and then took down the carrier pigeon from the blade tip.

When this blade was thrown, Duan Rong had only infused a thread of Essence; after piercing through several floors, that thread of Essence had already been exhausted. By the time it struck this carrier pigeon, it was purely physical force; otherwise, given the violent nature of Heaven and Earth Essence, it would have surely blasted this carrier pigeon into mush.

This also showed Duan Rong's precise control over Essence power under his powerful Divine Soul.

After Duan Rong took down the carrier pigeon, he removed the thin wooden tube tied to the carrier pigeon's thin leg, and poured out a rolled-up slip of paper from inside.

He opened the slip of paper, and under the dim starlight and moonlight, he saw six characters written on it: Taihe Tower has been exposed!

Duan Rong stood on the flying eave, the faint night wind blowing his lapels; Essence surged in his palm, turning the paper in his hand into powder...

In the depths of Duan Rong's eyes, a cold, sharp light flickered profoundly.

The moment he saw those six characters on the paper, Duan Rong knew that his decision tonight was not redundant.

He was going to use secret means tonight to take down Taihe Tower.

He wanted to investigate down from Taihe Tower here and wipe out the spy network within Shenyun Prefecture in one fell swoop.

The mechanism that person triggered before falling unconscious was clearly meant to report news to someone.

This carrier pigeon should have been the final warning mechanism of Taihe Tower.

Then, who was he reporting to? And why did he want to report? And why set up this final warning mechanism?

These all pointed to one problem: once Taihe Tower was exposed, many people would be affected. It also further illustrated the core position of this stronghold, Taihe Tower, within the entire intelligence network of Shenyun Prefecture constructed by Ge Rusong.

The reason for setting up this warning, and why that person had to trigger this mechanism before falling unconscious, was to notify the relevant people to retreat in time.

This was also why Duan Rong chose to strike at Taihe Tower in the middle of the night using secret means.

He could not alert the enemy, and had to leave enough time for further investigation.

Only in this way could he pull one hair and move the whole body, dealing a heavy blow to the entire spy intelligence network of Shenyun Prefecture!

Because once this punch was thrown, the spies in various places would all go into hiding and retreat, and it would be difficult to catch them again.

Duan Rong leaped, jumping down from the high place like a large bird, landing lightly, and then his figure suddenly moved in the darkness, as fast as a ghost; within a single breath, he had already arrived outside the small alley where Zhu Cheng and the others were hiding.

Duan Rong gave a light cough, which served as a signal to Zhu Cheng.

Hearing this, Zhu Cheng recognized it was Duan Rong's voice and asked in a low voice: "Sir..."

Duan Rong said: "Zhu Cheng, take your men and follow me."

One black shadow after another darted out from the alley in single file, following behind Duan Rong in the night, flickering toward Taihe Tower...

(End of chapter)